Storytelling Through Song: An Evening of Music in the Folk Tradition

Specs has always been home to wonderful storytellers across many different mediums from poetry and writing to song, including John Prine, Rosalie Sorrels and Specs himself, who grew up playing his guitar and singing folk songs on Boston street corners and in open mic cafes, and was responsible for introducing The Kingston Trio to “M.T.A.” which later became a national hit! In honor of this great art form of expressive storytelling we are bringing a folk night series to Specs featuring local up and coming songwriters and different voices each month. More info on each artist can be found below:

Mae Powell is a bay area based singer songwriter with a rainbow tinged timeless sound. She released her sophomore album "Making Room For the Light" in August on Colemine Records. It's an indie folk record that grapples with love, friendship, and loss, with deeply personal yet universal lyrics. You can find Mae singing jazz, spinning vinyl, or playing her original music with her band made up of her very best friends.

Elbows, AKA Max Schieble, is a San Francisco-based songwriter, producer, and vocalist, as well as visual artist. On October 27, 2021 he released his debut album, 'Tales From The Old Mill,' a project that explores the concept of “home” as a physical place, a memory, and a desire through a warbling concoction of psychedelic pop, jazz, hip hop, funk and electronic. Elbows has appeared with Grammy Award winner Natalia Lafourcade, Nick Hakim, BENEE, L’Rain, Kendra Morris, and others. He has performed throughout the greater east coast and in 2018 made his international debut at Festival OFF de Quebec in Quebec City, Canada. ‘Tales From The Old Mill’ is available now on EveryDejaVu Records.

Bay Area born, Brooklyn based Little Mystery’s blues-inflected delivery derives its power from alluring contrasts—smoky and crystalline, inviting and defiant, wry and vulnerable. It is invested with the same warmth and grit as her songwriting, which combines the erudition of Tom Waits and Joni Mitchell and the attitude of Bonnie Raitt and Chrissie Hynde with a frank and vulnerable perspective all her own. On her self-titled debut as Little Mystery (out July 26 via Ruination Record Co.), Meissner sublimates elements of ‘60s pop and R&B, ‘70s folk-rock and more into a commanding sonic vision. Against warm and varied musical backdrops, she confronts dark corners of the past and searches for connection in a fractured, anxiety-ridden world. Her singing mimics the cadence of an offhanded conversation and the timing of a joke, and lends weight to hard realizations.